


free

by elrickrolled



Category: Jojo Rabbit (2019)
Genre: One Shot, i did this in one hour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23666554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elrickrolled/pseuds/elrickrolled
Summary: Jojo reunites with his father. Together, the three of them form a new life, in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Relationships: Jojo Betzler & Elsa Korr, Jojo Betzler and His Father
Comments: 1
Kudos: 45





	free

Their dancing doesn’t last forever.

There’s still a lot that has to be done. 

For Johannes Betzler, aged ten and a half, it’s trying to move on with his life. The Germany he knows has fallen. The Russians continue to round up the remnants of the German army. Americans rush through the streets with their tanks, driving them like cars, waving that star-spotted red and white and blue flag, as a sign of victory against the Germans (again). 

(Yorki would say the Allies look more like Aryans than their friends, the Japanese, do. Jojo doesn’t know what to think about that. He decides to add it to his list of Very Absurd Nazi Ideologies and Observations. It’s a very long list.)

“I need to ask you something,” Elsa says. 

Jojo looks up at her. “What is it?” 

“Your father. He’s coming back for us, right?” 

_ /-/-/-/-/ _

His head is wrapped in bandages, his hair long and messy and lightly sprinkled with drops of red, his clothes ragged and torn at. 

But it’s still his father. The very same one that held his hand and read him stories and basically made him feel loved as a younger boy. He looks the same (minus all the wounds and the scars and the bandaged up covered left eye). Jojo rushes towards the man, ecstatic, on the other side of the train station. 

His father is home.

His father wraps Jojo in a tight embrace in his arms. Elsa watches from a bystander’s view, observing. Of course, her presence is soon acknowledged.

“You’re…?” His father looks at her, confused. He turns to his son, manages a weak smile and jokes, “Is that your girlfriend, Jojo?”

_ Man, I wish.  _ Of course, Jojo would rather die of embarrassment then declare that out loud in front of his father and Elsa herself, so he just says, “... That’s Elsa.”

His father doesn’t respond, and Jojo continues, “She’s going to stay with us now.” 

There is a pause, then: “She looks like Inge,” his father whispers quietly. 

Jojo watches as the two share a formal introduction. His father seems quite amused by the fact his late daughter and this newcomer Jewish girl knew each other once, in a world long before the war began.

_ /-/-/-/-/ _

They have a lot of catching up to do.

__

His father mentions his work as he traversed around Europe. A ‘partisan’, he called himself. Jojo doesn’t know what that means, but Elsa seems to. She says they’re all about freedom-fighting and saving Jews. Which makes Jojo happy, knowing that both his parents were on the same level of helping others and being decent human beings.

__

It also makes him slightly guilty over the blind nationalism he led towards Hitler and the Nazis and the Third Reich for most of his life. He tries to shake the feeling off. He’s here now, Hitler and the Nazis and the Third Reich are gone and dead, and his father’s back, and Elsa’s with them.

__

Also, his father mentioned the scars and disfigurement on his face. “How’d you get those?” 

__

There is  _ no way in hell  _ Jojo is going to tell him he stole some exploding stick and blew himself up, after being goaded by his imaginary friend. So he just says they’re  _ war scars  _ after fighting in Germany’s secret army _.  _ His father laughs and commends his son for his effort. 

__

“Where’s your mother?” Jojo’s father squeezes his hand warmly. “I missed her. She’s doing well, then?”

__

Silence.

__

Jojo sneaks a glance at Elsa, who is staring at the ground. There is one unanswered question lingering in the air between the two, like smoke:  _ Who is going to tell him?  _

__

He buries his face into his father’s chest. It hurts too much to tell him himself.

__

Elsa decides to muster the courage.

__

His father just lets him into his arms as the two cry together. 

__

_ /-/-/-/-/ _

__

“What do we do now?” 

__

“We move on, Jojo. Because that’s life. People die and we’re left to pick up the pieces afterwards. So we’ll just move on.” 

__

“With Elsa?”

__

“With Elsa,” his father agrees, “And with Rosie in our hearts.”

__

_ /-/-/-/-/ _

__

Rebuilding their lives isn’t easy. 

__

Jojo finds that he and Elsa may have been dancing too early. For Johannes Betzler, now aged twelve years old, they’ve moved away from their little city, to different houses and residences in the east then finally, to Berlin. Seeing American and Soviet soldiers strut around smugly with their guns and their tanks, or laughing at the set up Allied checkpoints, the expressions on their faces clearly saying  _ We won the war and you didn’t hahahahaha.  _

__

He’s glad they did. 

__

When Jojo comes home from school one day, he sees his father, hard at work, in front of the typewriter. 

__

“Where’s Elsa?”

__

“Her room.” His father doesn’t even spare a glance at Jojo as his eyes remain fixed on the machine in front of him, his fingertips dancing along the keys.

__

“What are you doing, Papa?” Jojo approaches him, and sees several documents and reports and folders scattered across his father’s desk and the floor; he peers closer and sees a few pictures of him. His name, his birthday, his nationality, everything there is to know about him. There are other sheets of paper too: some of his father’s pictures and information, and some with Elsa’s.

__

His father looks at him eagerly, picking up several papers off the floor. “We’re going to leave Germany.”

__

Jojo looks at him, baffled. 

__

It takes a while to absorb that. 

__

_ We’re going to leave Germany.  _

__

As in, leave Germany? The country Jojo spent his whole life in? They’re going to  _ leave Germany?  _

__

“Me, you, Elsa. I just have to finalise everything.”

__

“Have you decided this already?” Jojo asks.

__

His father beams at him. “It’s all I’ve been thinking about since I left during the war.” 

__

_ /-/-/-/-/ _

__

“We’re going to leave Germany?” 

__

“Yeah. To this place called America.”

__

A small smile plays at Elsa’s lips. “Does that mean I can finally meet Clark Gable?”

__

“Who’s that?”

__

“An actor. You should know him. He’s handsome and  _ so  _ talented!” (Yuck.) “He’s the king of Hollywood.”

__

“Not at all… What’s Hollywood?”

__

“Jojo, you’re stupid. Who  _ doesn’t  _ know Hollywood?” 

__

“Me, apparently.” 

__

“Weirdo.”

__

Elsa tries to playfully throw a pillow at Jojo as he heads out. The pillow collides with the closing bedroom door. 

__

_ /-/-/-/-/ _

__

“Are you almost done, Papa?”

__

“Almost. I need to finalise the travel documents. Then we’ll be on our way to leave Germany.” His father is still sitting in front of that typewriter. 

__

“To America?”

__

“America.”

__

“What does America have that Germany doesn’t? Do we  _ have  _ to leave?” Jojo asks. His father raises an eyebrow at him. Well, he doesn’t have anything to lose if they did leave Germany. (Except for Yorki. His only regret would most likely be leaving Yorki, basically his only friend these past few years. Adolf doesn’t count.) 

__

“For a start, Jojo, it has freedom. You can be free and dance forever. America is a land where you can be happy.” 

__

“Germany can make us happy.” 

__

“Has Germany made you happy these past few years, Jojo?”

__

“... No.”

__

He’s right, though.

__

“My point exactly.” He ruffles his son’s hair, then slowly brings Jojo into a hug. “Your mother wanted to go to America after this war was over.” 

__

“Let’s go for Mama, then?” 

__

“Yeah, let’s go for her.”

__

_ /-/-/-/-/ _

__

For Johannes Betzler, aged thirteen now, the past two weeks, all he’s seen is blue. He looks up, the sky is blue. He looks down, the sea is blue. He just wants to see land again. American land. Is it different from Germany? Most likely. For a start, they  _ did  _ win the war. And they’re steeped in money, Elsa says. So, most likely different. 

__

According to what his father says, it’s the land of the free. A land of peace and opportunity. But beyond that, he doesn’t know. Jojo would love to go and take that book about America from his father’s hands, but the man has wrapped it in a tight embrace as he slumbers. 

__

“Are you okay?” Jojo looks back and sees Elsa walking towards him. 

__

“Doing alright.”

__

She sighs. “We’ve done it. We’re going to America.” 

__

“And you can finally prove to me that Hollywood actually exists and isn’t just the name of some fairyland in a book.” 

__

“I can’t believe you’re still holding up with that narrative.” 

__

“Who the hell names their land  _ Hollywood?”  _

__

“The Americans, apparently.” 

__

Elsa joins Jojo as he stares back at the sea, hands tightly gripping the silver rails, as the ship slowly endeavours on. He looks around, sees other German passengers. All happy and hopeful and looking for freedom too. He smiles, knowing everything will be alright (for now).

__

He catches Elsa staring at him. 

__

“What?” 

__

“I think your mama would be proud of us.” 

__

He smiles even wider, thinking about his mother in the sky. He hopes she’s watching her top man now. Especially since throughout her life, she campaigned and fought for freedom. And there they were, three years later, on a ship to the land of the free. 

__

Jojo holds Elsa’s hand. 

__

A new life awaits them. 

__

And maybe they can dance again. 

**Author's Note:**

> This isn’t that good, it was something I made in around an hour after watching Jojo Rabbit. How fun. 
> 
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
